Sunday 29 September 2013

Bird, wildlife and flower log, 23-29 September 2013

Hello! Another week has gone by and summer is starting to turn to autumn. The leaves have started to change and it won't be long before I will be sweeping them all up.

I got this photo a little earlier today, usually the woodpigeon's fly off as soon as they hear the back door opening, unless they are young ones. So I don't know what was up with this one but it stayed put the whole time I was outside taking a few garden snaps! It looks quite grumpy as well as scruffy!!!

Scruffy Woodpigeon © 2013 Natasha Forder
This morning early there was a male chaffinch altercation on the lawn. They were "fighting" chest to chest, wings flapping. Finally one backed off and peace returned. Generally there have been a lot of chaffinch's around at the moment and quite a few greenfinches.

Blackbird viewings are now very scarce, just a glimpse of Master Black earlier in the week. The great spotted woodpeckers have grown up and their red caps have grown out. This week I have only seen females. Generally except the finches it has seemed a quiet week in the garden.

Birds Wildlife and Insects Flowers
Blackbird - juvenile Grey squirrels Lobelia x speciosa fan salmon
Great spotted woodpecker - female Snail Ceratostigma plumbaginoides
Chaffinch, male, female Slug Coreopsis grandiflora rising
Greenfinch - male, female Crane fly Coreopsis sunray
Blue tit - adult
Gaillardia sunburst yellow
Great tit - adult
Sedum
Dunnock - adult
Begonia
Robin - adult
Sunflower
Jay - adult
Aster
Magpie - adult

Crow - adult

Nuthatch - adult

Woodpigeon - adult, juvenile

Collared dove - adult

Coal tit - adult

Sunday 22 September 2013

Bird, wildlife and flower log, 16-22 September 2013

This week we've been away for a few days visiting Steve's parents in Birmingham, so I thought there would not be so much to say about what has been going on at The Brambles but it turns out I have plenty.

No new photos this week, instead here is a photo of Mr Chaffinch that I took a while back.

Mr Chaffinch © 2013 Natasha Forder
Monday whilst out feeding the birds Master Black appeared and even though I got close to where I had put the worms down for him and the song bird food, to restock the seed hangers he didn't move. Watched me for a bit and then carried on eating. Usually when I appear again he dashes under the mahonia but today he stayed there while I got close. He must have been about a metre away. I suspect if I had tried to take a photo he would have been gone before I'd had time to raise my camera!

Master Black was also around when I arrived home Sunday. I went straight outside to restock the bird food and there he was having a bath in one of the drinkers! I didn't realise until I was really close. He looked at me and then carried on!

Wednesday before we left Mrs Sparrowhawk appeared, this is the second time I've seen a female in the garden, it is usually a male. The blackbirds and chaffinches were around. I saw one of the Mr Blacks head for the cover of the mahonia and then out of nowhere was the sparrowhawk. I am not sure if it got anything, I couldn't see, but somehow I think it did.

There were two male blackbirds around that morning and both were not looking so good. They both look like they are going bald. With the Real Mr Black looking worse.

I also had to rescue another little frog from one of the drinkers again this week, so I've removed that one for the moment as it appears they can't seem to get out of it once in.

The little owl was also noisy at the beginning of the week. It's been ages since I've heard the tawny so I wonder what has happened to it. Bird calls are not my strong point and I have to listen to lots examples before I can make a decision on what I am hearing, blackbirds being an exception!

Birds Wildlife and Insects Flowers
Blackbird – male, female, juvenile Grey squirrels Lobelia x speciosa fan salmon
Great spotted woodpecker - male, female, juvenile Snail Ceratostigma plumbaginoides
Chaffinch - male, female Slug Coreopsis grandiflora rising
Greenfinch - male, female, juvenile Frog (little) Coreopsis sunray
Blue tit - adult, juvenile
Gaillardia sunburst yellow
Great tit - adult, juvenile
Sedum
Dunnock - adult
Begonia
Robin - adult, juvenile
Sunflower
Jay - adult

Magpie - adult

Crow - adult

Nuthatch - adult

Woodpigeon - adult, juvenile

Collared dove - adult

Coal tit
Sparrowhawk - female
Little owl - sound of

Sunday 15 September 2013

Bird, wildlife and flower log, 9-15 September 2013

This week I have had to extract a snail from the snack shack, but I am sure it had already been cleaned out by the time it would have got there! Maybe it was just taking shelter!!!

Squirrel knackered leg has been around quite a bit this week but it's been very quiet for the other squirrels. It's also been very quiet for blackbirds, just sightings of them darting out from underneath the mahonia.

This picture of squirrel "knackered leg" I took back in June, as I've not managed to capture anything this week I thought I'd catch up on a previous photo. It's broken back leg is easy to see.

Squirrel © 2013 Natasha Forder
This weekend has been very, very busy for the little birds. Especially greenfinches and chaffinches. I only fill the seed and nut feeders to about a third everyday, as they would eat their way through everything if they were full. And over the weekend they have been finishing what is out by about 11 am. That means lots of hungry birds, eating lots of food. There are still lots of young ones around too. Fat balls and fat blocks are also disappearing fast!

And I nearly forgot I saw a little frog this week too. I haven't seen any frogs for a while. I rescued it from one of the bird drinking trays that it was trapped in.

The wind has been getting up all evening and it started raining this afternoon, so not the nicest of days.

Birds Wildlife and Insects Flowers
Blackbird – male, female, juvenile Grey squirrels Lobelia x speciosa fan salmon
Great spotted woodpecker - male, female, juvenile Snail Ceratostigma plumbaginoides
Chaffinch - male, female Slug Coreopsis grandiflora rising
Greenfinch - male, female, juvenile Frog (little) Coreopsis sunray
Blue tit - adult, juvenile
Gaillardia sunburst yellow
Great tit - adult, juvenile
Sedum
Dunnock - adult

Robin - adult, juvenile

Jay - adult

Magpie - adult

Crow - adult

Nuthatch - adult

Woodpigeon - adult, juvenile

Collared dove - adult

Coal tit

Sunday 8 September 2013

Bird, wildlife and flower log, 2-8 September 2013

The tattered wings butterfly photo that I took recently inspired me to write a poem. I then got creative in Craft Artist with the photo, poem and a background paper that I had created a while ago from another photo, and this is the finished result. The poem can be found written separately on a post at The forget-me-not blog.

Tattered Wings photo and poem © 2013 Natasha Forder
More information on how I created the layout can be found at forget-me-not craft.

So good news, the Real Mr Black is back. Or lets put it this way I am sure it is him. He has lost some of his silver patch on his front, but I assume he is molting. He now has a small bald patch on the back of his neck too.

The young green had some trouble earlier in the week getting onto one of the seed feeders. It had been in the snack shack, the easiest place to obtain a sunflower seed but it was empty. After several attempts at the seed feeder it gave up. At which point I did a small restock of the shack. I was pleased to see it later in the week able to get on the seed feeder.

There is a story behind the snack shack. It started out life as the squirrel snack shack. Originally situated on the other side of the garden to keep the squirrels away from the bird food. However, the squirrels were unable to work out how to get to the food inside. So the squirrels failed to be able to use the special squirrel feeder and I had even bought the stuff labeled as squirrel food to put inside it!!! They would sit and look through the perspex on the front at the food and then they started chewing the lid. I took pity on them and started propping the lid open with a pine cone. But they'd knock that out and then start to chew the lid again. In the end we took the perspex front off, moved it to the bird food area and put sunflower seeds in it.

I had always been led to believe that squirrels were intelligent - at least where food is involved, but the ones in my garden really didn't make the grade!

The birds love it, they hop on and and off with a seed. Actually that is generally what the tits do. The finches's are "hoggers". They get on the shack and then stay and eat for ages, fending off anything else that wants to get on. Sometimes a great tit will start acting like a hogger, I guess after observing how the finches behave but luckily they don't do that too often! Sometimes a greenfinch pair will get on it together and that is quite sweet.

The down side is that the squirrels also now love the snack shack and of course it is very easy for them to help themselves too! When any kind of hogger is on the shack the little birds sit in the forsythia and start hopping up and down, agitated that they can't get to the food, sometimes it is quite comical and it's not like there aren't other available feeders!

Birds Wildlife and Insects Flowers
Blackbird – male, female, juvenile Grey squirrels African daisy
Great spotted woodpecker - male, female, juvenile Snail Lavender
Chaffinch - male, female Slug Large Daisy
Greenfinch - male, female, juvenile Backswimmer Dahlia
Blue tit - adult, juvenile Bees - various Begonia
Great tit - adult, juvenile Lily beetle Cats Ear
Dunnock - adult Large white butterfly Oregano
Robin - adult, juvenile
Marjoram
Jay - adult
Thyme
Magpie - adult
Montbretia
Crow - adult
Fuscia
Nuthatch - adult
Gaura cherry brandy
Woodpigeon - adult, juvenile
Gaura lindheimeri belleza
Collared dove - adult
Penstemon pensham czar
Coal tit Lobelia x speciosa fan salmon

Ceratostigma plumbaginoides

Coreopsis grandiflora rising

Coreopsis sunray

Gaillardia sunburst yellow

Sunday 1 September 2013

Bird, wildlife and flower log, 26 August - 1 September 2013

There have been lots of little birds in the garden this week and the coal tits have made a return. They don't usually visit the garden much during the summer, but I expect to start seeing more of them from now on.

There are still quite a few large white and small white butterflies around. This photo I took a few weeks ago, and I finally got around to processing it. The butterfly is sat on sage. A couple more butterfly photos can be seen on the Insects page, one I took this weekend.

Large White Butterfly © 2013 Natasha Forder
Earlier in the week there was a lot of flapping going on in the pieris where some of the bird feeders are hung. It was a young greenfinch and next thing I saw it was being fed, I would think it was quite late in the year for that?

It is very quiet now for blackbirds. I fear that the Real Mr Black has been done away with. I can't decide if it is by Impostor Black, who has been around a little, or by the wing of his own youngster. I tend to only see one of the young ones now and this one I suspect is a male blackbird, looking at the colouring that is slowly emerging. I got quite fond of the Real Mr B, so I do hope the story above isn't true and that he is just lying low! The youngster has quite an attitude and I often see it chasing Impostor B around the garden!

The lilies stopped flowering but I've left the stems and this week I noticed lots of lily beetles on one of the plants. Before I got close enough I thought that finally we had some ladybirds, at this point I could just see red on the plant. When I got close I realised they were little beetles, but I had to look them up to see what type they were. Very apt name for them!

Birds Wildlife and Insects Flowers
Blackbird – male, female, juvenile Grey squirrels African daisy
Great spotted woodpecker - male, female, juvenile Snail Lavender
Chaffinch - male, female Slug Large Daisy
Greenfinch - male, female, juvenile Backswimmer Dahlia
Blue tit - adult, juvenile Bees - various Begonia
Great tit - adult, juvenile Large white butterfly Cats Ear
Dunnock - adult Small white butterfly Oregano
Robin - adult, juvenile Lily beetle Marjoram
Jay - adult, juvenile
Thyme
Magpie - adult
Montbretia
Crow - adult
Fuscia
Nuthatch - adult
Gaura cherry brandy
Woodpigeon - adult, juvenile
Gaura lindheimeri belleza
Collared dove - adult
Penstemon pensham czar
Coal tit Lobelia x speciosa fan salmon
Goldfinch Ceratostigma plumbaginoides

Coreopsis grandiflora rising

Coreopsis sunray

Gaillardia sunburst yellow